Major Milestones in the African American Struggle for Freedom

The African American Struggle for Freedom

An Historical Overview

The long freedom struggle of the African American was first and foremost against the institution of slavery. After the Civil War, many African Americans were elected to local, state, and federal office as African Americans struggled to build democracy in the American South. That period was known as Reconstruction. Reconstruction created a violent, white backlash known as Post-Reconstruction. From 1896 through the 1950 and into the 1960, the African American struggle to end racial segregation and discrimination and for constitutional voting rights continued. A high point in that struggle was reached in the 1920s when Marcus Mosiah Garvey organized the largest mass movement of black people the modern world has ever seen. The African American struggle for freedom and self-determination reached another high point during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Out of the fusion of the Southern based civil rights movement and the northern based revolutionary black nationalist movement, the Black Power movement was born. While one wing of the Black Power movement focused on self-defense of the African American community, another definition of Black Power emerged as a second black electoral trend following the 1967 election of Richard Hatcher as the first elected Black mayor of a U.S. metropolitan city, Gary Indiana, Here is a list of some of the major milestones in the road to equal constitutional rights.

14th Amendment passed (1868)

After the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery, the 14th constitutional bestowed African-Americans citizenship. By 1870, the 15th amendment gave African-American males the right to vote. However, that right was short lived.

Plessy v. Ferguson decision (1896)

Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal facilities for different races is legal. From 1896 to 1965 Jim Crow laws created separation and de jure equality of facilities for the races, while socially de facto discrimination continued. The era of American apartheid was born.

Niagara Movements (1905)

W.E.B. DuBois demanded immediate racial equality and opposed all discriminatory laws. This led to creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.

Marcus Garvey organizes the Largest Mass Movement in African American History

Nation of Islam is formed in Detroit under the Leadership of Wallace D. Fard Muhammad (1930)

The Nation of Islam (NOI) is an Islamic religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan, by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad on July 4, 1930. The Nation of Islam's ...

Armed forces integrated (1948)

In 1947, A. Philip Randolph and Grant Reynolds renewed efforts to end discrimination in the armed services. They started the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training. That organization became known as the League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation. On July 26, 1948, President Truman signed Executive Order 9981. It stated: "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin."

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision (1954)

The long struggle against Jim Crow, or American Apartheid, culminated in a series of court cases that were ultimately consolidated into one case and came to be known as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas. In Brown, the US Supreme Court reversed the Plessy v. Ferguson decision. Schools are ordered to desegregate.

Little Rock Central High School desegregated (1957)

After the Little Rock school board voted to integrate schools, the National Guard troops prevent black children from attending. Federal paratroopers are needed to escort black students and preserve peace and Arkansas schools are closed for the next year.

Montgomery bus boycott (1955-1957)

Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat for a white passenger. This started a 381-day bus boycott organized by the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). Martin Luther King, Jr. emerges as the leader.

Four Black Freshmen Students Sit-in at Woolworth's Lunch Counter in Greensboro, NC

Malcolm X Assassinated at Audubon Ballroom in Harlem (1965)

Assassination ... On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was preparing to address the Organization of Afro-American Unity in ...

Voting Rights Act (1965)

After the Selma to Montgomery march led by King to support Black voter registration, president Johnson addresses the nation in favour of the marches. The Voting Rights Act is passed to give African Americans the same rights which had been legally granted them some 95 years earlier by the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. Southern black voter registration grows by over 50%.

The Black Panther Party is Formed in New York (1966)

"The Lowndes County Freedom Organization" was founded in the county as a ... Organized by the young civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael of the Student ...

The Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) in coalition with Harlem representatives of SNCC, the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, decided to set up an an independent black political party as a northern support apparatus of the Loundes County Freedom Organization (whose symbol was the Black Panther). This was the formal establishment of the Black Panther Party, in New York, August 1966. Black Panther Parties were established in Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco,, Los Angeles, and, eventually, Oakland, California. After a split in RAM, ex RAM member, Bobby Seale, joined Huey P. Newton in forming the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in Oakland, California. History of RAM - Revolutionary Action Movement (Max Stanford)

26 Nov 2014 ... Black Panther Party, original name Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, African American revolutionary party, founded in 1966 in Oakland, ...

Richard Hatcher Elected as Mayor of Gary, Indiana

The election of Richard Hatcher as Mayor of Gary, Indiana, in 1967 signaled a turning point in black politics. When Hatcher became the first elected Black mayor of a U.S. metropolitan city, he helped to ignite a debate about whether electoral politics should become a primary tactic of achieving Black Power or an end unto itself. In the years since, many of the major American cities have elected African American mayors.

Civil Rights Act (1968)

In April King is assassinated. African Americans rebel in over one hundred and twenty five cities. America burns. President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.

African Americans and their contributions to American society and culture are ... One of the most recent historical events in black history is the election of the first ... of Jackie Robinson, the first African American player in Major League Baseball.

The story of African Americans in the United States is one of both immeasurable ... Guide to Black History to provide a context for these significant milestones, ...

African Americans and their contributions to American society and culture are ... One of the most recent historical events in black history is the election of the first ... of Jackie Robinson, the first African American player in Major League Baseball.